Idea Post #2: Spring Semester

Idea Post #2 Spring Semester

February 10, 2011

"Copycat Suicide"

Quotes: 

"The well-known suicide serves as a model, in the absence of protective factors, for the next suicide. They occasionally spread through a schoolsystem, through a community, or in terms of a celebrity suicide wave, nationally."

"Publishing the means of suicides, romanticized and sensationalized reporting, particularly about celebrities, suggestions that there is an epidemic, glorifying the deceased and simplifying the reasons all lead to increases in the suicide rate. Increased rate of suicides has been shown to occur up to ten days after a television report."

Source: Philips DP. The impact of fictional television stories on US adult fatalities: new evidence on the effect of the mass media on violence. American journal of sociology, 1982, 87: 1340-1359 via http://www.lumrix.net/medical/psychiatry/copycat_suicide.html.

Annotated Bibliography: Philips DP. The impact of fictional television stories on US adult fatalities: new evidence on the effect of the mass media on violence. American journal of sociology, 1982, 87: 1340-1359. 

The copycat suicide phenomenom is a theory that is still being researched and learned about. With the insane about of media coverage and media influence in this day and age, this book seems a little outdated, but really was groundbreaking in research about the psychiatry copycat suicide.

Relation: I came across this interesting topic when researching about why people draw their influence from media.  I think this theory helps me to prove my argument that people, children included, are too dependent on the actions of characters in the media.  This was very interesting to read about and I think gives me a bit more of a perspective on how severe media influence can be.  This will help me address the issue in my series.